BOSOM BUDDIES: Reunion of Richards, Carter has Kings jelling at right time

Fate has brought Mike Richards and Jeff Carter together repeatedly, but their most recent reunion just might be chalked up to Stanley Cup destiny.

"They're good friends and they've shared a lot of experiences. I think this would be the ultimate experience for any players, let alone friends," said Kings assistant coach John Stevens, who coached the duo in Philadelphia at both the NHL and American Hockey League levels.

The two forwards befriended one another as 16-year-old opponents in the Ontario Hockey League. At 18, their professional paths became linked inextricably as a pair of first-round draft selections by the Philadelphia Flyers. Carter was selected 11thoverall and Richards went 24th overall. They would team up to win silver and gold medals for Canada at the world junior championships in 2004 and 2005.

In 2005, they won the Calder Cup with the Philadelphia Phantoms in what was arguably the most competitive AHL season ever because of the NHL lockout.

"They play when you're down, they play when you're up, they kill penalties and they play power play," said Stevens, who coached the Phantoms. "If you have a winning program you need players like that and both those guys have been like that since Day One."

While both cherish those early memories, they are both focused on one thing today: Lord Stanley's Cup.

"Right now, I'm just focused on what's ahead of us. The Stanley Cup is what every player dreams about," Carter said.

While the duo has had uncommon success together, their journey to this point became turbulent this past summer. Amid rampant speculation about their personal and professional lives, Richards, the Flyers' captain, and Carter, one of their alternate captains, were both traded. Flyers management insisted the deals were strictly business, and they followed suit by turning over more than half their roster.

Richards was dealt to the Kings for Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and a draft pick. Carter initially found himself in Columbus, who sent Jacub Voracek and the No. 8 overall selection in the 2011 draft to the Flyers.

Both players were shipped out with a combined two decades left on their ground-breaking "lifetime" contracts.

"I signed that deal to play my whole career in Philly, hopefully win a championship to play with Mike for my whole career because we're really close," Carter said during the preseason.

Two time zones away, Richards provided an echo.

"We were told we were going to be Flyers for life. I think that frustrated us the most, we were promised to be there forever and that's why we signed the deals," Richards said upon his arrival in Los Angeles.

"We expected to play our whole careers together. I've known Jeff since we were 16, probably best friends since we were 18. We lived together and probably spent every day together for a couple years."

Fast forwarding to February's trade deadline, the Kings were the lowest-scoring squad in the NHL.

Richards, who had a hot start before sustaining a concussion, had scored one goal in the previous two months of action.

Carter, the crown jewel in an aggressive offseason for Columbus, had struggled with injuries, mixed form and a series of tough adjustments on one of the league's worst teams.

Then came the call. The Kings addressed their scoring crisis by acquiring Carter in exchange for defenseman Jack Johnson and a first-round pick.

"Reunited and it feels so goooooooooooood," Richards tweeted.

Carter, along with the timely call-ups of rookies Dwight King, Jordan Nolan and Slava Voynov, brought the Kings' offense from anemic to robust in short order.

"They kind of slotted guys in where they should be and has really given us second and third lines that have identity now," Stevens said. "They've helped us in a lot of ways, not just by their presence but what it's done for our whole lineup by moving guys into the right places."

While Carter and Richards had spent the overwhelming majority of their careers as a 1-2 punch at center, Richards and Anze Kopitar had the top center spots locked up for the Kings. Carter, who dabbled at right wing in his career, was moved onto Richards' line full-time for the first time.

"We knew that when we got Carter in the trade, they were going to play together and they were going to have something special together," said winger Simon Gagne, who played with Richards and Carter in Philadelphia until 2010.

"Chemistry is always important. You could put the best two players in the world together and it might not work," Gagne said. "Those guys have it."

Gagne, Carter and Richards were members of the Flyers team that lost the 2010 Final to the Chicago Blackhawks, falling in overtime of Game 6.

"Those two guys with the experience they had losing in 2010," Gagne said, "not being too far removed, having that fresh in their mind and having a chance to go back with all the stuff going on, getting traded and stuff like that, I'm sure they will take advantage."

Indeed, Philadelphia's 2010 run was not unlike the Kings' surge this season. The Kings entered the postseason with the eighth and final playoff spot. They could have clinched the division or missed the playoffs in the closing days of the season.

The Flyers were a No. 7 seed, but it took a shootout win in the final game of the regular season against the New York Rangers to even qualify for the playoffs. They overcame an 0-3 hole in the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston, just the third team ever to do so, en route to a stunning Final appearance.

"Oh, it's real similar," Carter said. "When you're in that kind of position, just kind of rolls over into the playoffs. If we were locked in there a little while in the season, you might sit back a bit, get a little complacent. I think it definitely helped us out."

This time around, the pair has been been a part of a comprehensive effort, encountering fewer obstacles to this point. The Kings dispensed with all three division winners in the West in just 14 games, tying the 1988 Edmonton Oilers for the best record through three rounds at 12-2.

Richards said the invaluable experience of competing in and the agonizing sting of losing the 2010 Final could go a long way toward accomplishing their mission this time.

"We're both excited and we're both looking forward to (the Final)," Richards said. "Just having a bitter taste, remembering what the feeling was like after we lost Game 6, obviously it's a feeling you don't want to have happen again.

"That just gives us more motivation and we know what to expect going in there. Before we might have been a little shocked or taken aback by it. We know what to expect and to focus on hockey now."